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Swimming with Crocodiles

A True Story of Adventure and Survival

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Swimming with Crocodiles

By: Will Chaffey
Narrated by: John Rubinstein
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About this listen

In the tradition of Into the Wild, here is the riveting story of a young man seeking his own truth and finding adventure in the awesome, unforgiving power of nature.

Will Chaffey is 18 when he boards a plane in New York bound for Australia. Taking time off to work and travel, Will meets an enigmatic wanderer and herpetologist. Together they cross the inland desert to the tropical northwest coast, home to the saltwater crocodile, a known man-eater and a predator who has been hunting since the age of the dinosaurs.

They devise a plan to explore the remote Prince Regent River, a trek so dangerous it had never been attempted by outsiders. Passing through harsh, primeval country, shadowed by their own exhaustion, and physically worn down, they find themselves locked in a life-and-death struggle when their food runs out and, unable to leave, they are stalked by a hungry crocodile.

Filled with scenes of great natural beauty, Swimming with Crocodiles is at once the affecting account of a journey into adulthood and a hair-raising epic of survival.

©2008, 2011 Will Chaffey (P)2012 Audible, Inc. Adventure Travel Australia & Oceania Oceania Adventure

Editorial reviews

Set in the wilderness of the Australian outback during the author's teenaged exploration of a remote river, Swimming with Crocodiles is one part coming-of-age tale and one part adventure story. Alongside descriptions of the author’s nuts-and-bolts struggle for survival, listeners are treated to expanded musings on life and the natural world, and fascinating tidbits of history and science. Performer John Rubinstein's dramatic delivery, combined with the author's smooth, matter-of-fact style, lends this audiobook the smooth feel of a documentary.
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Narration let this story down. Poor Australian accent & mispronounced place names were a little annoying.
The story itself was good.

Narration let it down

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was a bit slow at start but found it very interesting, would love to visit area

thymbs up

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great story, but the "Australian accent" was beyond cringe worthy....Australians don't remotely sound like that and I was so intense that I almost had to stop playing it all together. The only saving grace was that the story itself was interesting enough to push through the terribly poor Australian accent 😅

Good book. Terrible attempt at an Aussie accent!

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A really entertaining read and thought provoking journey into outback Australia. Shared some lovely insights into nature and Aboriginal culture and spirituality. Narration wasn’t great for character voices but didn’t spoil the story.

Great story.

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I found this hard to listen to ... the accents and terminology so NOTAustralian.... the story seems to jump all over the place.....

A story long told but all over the place....

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.